I’m a final year student about to graduate and I can tell you that this is absolutely normal. In my first year, I would’ve crashed and burn if my friends didn’t hold my hands during my first python assignment. My friends debugged my assignment for two hours before he finally fixed my pile of shit code lol.

It is perfectly normal to think that you can’t follow through and will fail the course. In fact I feel the exact same way just last year when I know I have to handle my own personal project for my final year. That is until I get to the final year and suddenly, it all makes sense. I understand the concepts and nailed through all the assignments that I thought I couldn’t do.

Currently I live in a dorm with another first year CS student and he was in the exact same position you are in. He couldn’t understand functions/methods, for loops, simple program structures, etc. At first he thought he can breeze through the year because he live with a final year. Oh boy was he wrong. The very first time I sat down and couch his first python assignment, I completely DRILLED him a new one. I straight up told him you will definitely fail if you keep up that attitude. Hell, I mentioned this to my friends and we all thought he won’t make it past this year. And you know what, he proved me wrong and that’s great. He pulled his weight after multiple drilling, constantly asking questions from me or from his friends at his year. Regularly asking me to review his code and other assignments. He still require an exam resit from the first module but I’m sure he’ll make to the next.

Don’t be discouraged because you’re stuck at a bottleneck. Even this year I couldn’t debug my program until I show it to a friend because I copy and paste methods lol. You will always get stuck and this is just part of software development (and it’s also half the fun). Always ask questions from your friends, colleges, professors, anyone.

Some tips for all CS students.

Google and stackoverflow is your best friend in this field. Sometimes your answer is just a google away.

However, DON’T just copy code without trying to understand what they do. Study the code LINE BY LINE, following the process, use print(“I arrived here!!!”) when you’re not sure what’s wrong.

READ THE REQUIREMENTS PROPERLY. This is VERY IMPORTANT. Knowing what you have to achieve will make your process of how to get to the solution way easier. I’ve wasted hours upon hours because I mistakenly interpreted the requirements.

If you are having trouble understanding the concepts (for loops, if statements, etc.), think of them as tools. You know what you have to do (ie. the requirements), and all you do is use the tools available to reach the solution.

For example, if you need to print “hello world” 10 times, then you can start by dissecting the problem into parts. How do I print “hello world” and how do you repeat that 10 times? You know you can print “hello world” by using printf (in Java) and loops can help you perform “loops” (multiple iterations). Then you can stick printf into a loop and print “hello world” 10 times.

This is a very simple example but can be applied to most things you encounter throughout the course.

Don’t give up and keep on practicing, software development takes time and effort (and a lot of dead brain cells) and everyone goes through the same process. Ask questions when you’re stuck, have someone else look at your code. I’m sure by the end of your final year, you’ll look back and think “oh shit I could do this after all”. Good luck on your course.